All Done On The Pressie Front

Well, nearly done, but I’m taking the stuff to make my granny’s scarf and the hand sewing for her mobile down to mum and dad’s, so hopefully I’ll be all done tomorrow night. In the meantime, here’s today’s creations, brought to you by Pinterest (well it may as well have been, I had pinned everything but my gran’s stocking filler!)

I finally got the super secret project, aka my dad’s Christmas pressie done. The last panel (the bike) was entirely done on Tuesday night after work/dinner and yesterday. I think I can cheerfully go awhile before doing more embroidery ;o) Anywho, here it is (please ignore the crap creative clutter in the background)

I’m blaming this project entirely on Nova, who posted a tutorial on Bec’s Chasing Cottons blog a few months ago. It was the camera that did it, and suddenly I knew what I’d do for dad’s Christmas pressie. So the first thing was to lie through my teeth evasively ask him to take some photos for a project I had coming up. I told him it was sewing related, and to be honest, all of the things in these panels are things I enjoy too, so I’m not sure if he had any idea what was coming. So, here’s his beloved camera, his bike, his walking boots fresh from a week away, and a map of part of Loch Lomond and a compass. I used a variety of stitches with 3 strands of embroidery cotton, and I have to thank Clover and Violet for their sew along this summer which reminded me of how to do one or two of them!

After finishing the sashing/border/backing on this before lunch, I then tackled the small projects:

Firstly, my mum got her big pressie in September, however, I couldn’t leave her parcel-less on the big day, so I made her a scarf, after seeing this tutorial, and several other similar ideas around the blogosphere of late. I found the voile completely by chance in the shop I wouldn’t normally go to for fabric (Remnant Kings is my go to for thread etc in an emergency as it’s near the office, but it has a pretty small and, um, diverse selection of fabric). Ironically I’m making a similar scarf for my granny, but couldn’t find suitable voile anywhere in Mandors the day before, so hers will be jumbo cord and brushed cotton… Anywho, the voile I found has these lovely big silver and white flowers printed on it. I then found this nice soft cotton tartan to back it:

I also made her a wee pincushion for her stocking using a tutorial that Kim, from My Go Go Life, posted last week. This is my first attempt at cathedral window, and it was amazingly easier than I thought it would be! Having sorted all my rainbow charms I just received with the previous swap I was in, I removed all the duplicates from the first swap (the first swap was 2 per fabric) and I’m now getting to have fun playing with them :o) The button came from an Etsy buy a few months ago with no particular purpose, but which was perfect for this project.

Next is my gran’s stocking filler mug rug and hostess box. I slightly cheated here as I had a bunch of these 2 1/2″ charms sewn into 4 patches for a project I decided against in the end. This was a perfect way to use them up, along with a few charms that hadn’t made it into 4 patches yet. These were from the Japanese charm swap from the summer (please ignore the mistake of the 2 poodles together – doh!)

For my final make, I did an iPhone cover for my dad. This came from a combination of tutorials, including this one from Sarah at Fairy Face Designs. I decided to throw in a pocket for headphones in case he wanted to take them with him on business trips. Please imagine a covered button on there, it will be added tomorrow with the rest of the hand sewing! I used some leftover black linen from the wristlets, and leftover fabric from the wall hanging (the lining and front pocket lining are in the red along with the button loop, and the button will be too) I made an interesting discovery that if you quilt onto batting without a backing fabric, you get fuzzy thread which leaves a kind of pinstripe effect.

Tomorrow I shall be leaving the flatmate on guard while I pick up gran and head down to mum and dad’s for Christmas. I’ll be taking the laptop, but probably won’t get to post on here, although I should be able to read other blogs and my e-mails before I come back on the 28th.

In the meantime, have a great Christmas everyone, hope Santa’s good to you all :oD

Well, ain't you somethin'! You have been very busy – along with very creative and now very inspirational. I am beginning to think there isn't anything that you can't sew! By the way, I love the quilt with the objects that you made for your dad. If he's not over the moon with it, then I just don't know how you could impress him. But surely, he will be because it's terrific! Great job. Now have a very Merry Christmas with all your family and friends!

I love the embroidery you did for your dad! Aren't dads the worst?! I have a quilt planned for my dad, but it seems the baby in my tummy thinks it's not a big priority and wants me to sleep instead. Harumph. Everything you made is just lovely, though! Merry (Happy) Christmas to you!